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Census: I Wasn’t Counted, I Don’t Care
Ab-initio, I have
increasingly remained apathetic towards the on-going headcount by the
National Population Commission (NPC). This is due to the apparent
extreme lack of commitment and hypocrisy of the Government of Nigeria.
Nigeria is one funny country that is full of contradictions, pretensions
and hypocrisy. No class or category of Nigerians dramatizes these
unfortunate traits than the ruling elite, particularly those that are in
government at any given time, or are not in government but hope to get
into I-chop-you-chop positions of government in Nigeria. ‘Government’ in
Nigeria, at all levels, has consistently failed to face reality and
often chooses to be hypocritical in serious matters that are very
fundamental to Nigeria’s development and progress as a nation. Idiotic
contradictions played out all through our government’s quest to carry
out a population census. And as we await the results, I cannot but pity
all the principal players in the census. The outcome will definitely
anger not a few Nigerians.
Plans for the head
count earlier planned for November 2005 clearly showed our government’s
“seriousness” to conducting a head count. The “less serious” development
partners, particularly the EU, funded more than half the cost of the
census, providing huge technical support only for the less than
committed Government of Nigeria (GON) to suddenly, a couple of months to
November 2005, announce a cancellation due to lack of “funds” to match
that of the development partners. So GON is too poor to afford a census
after every ten years? A sovereign GON, with all the oil wealth at its
disposal has to wait for foreign development partners to goad them to
organize a census? How unserious could a government be! If not for
development partners like the EU, the present government would never
organize any census because it is not the priority of those in power.
Another issue that
shows the lack of seriousness of GON is the hypocrisy in avoiding some
very important data like ethnicity and religion. GON insists these are
volatile data that could “threaten” the unity of Nigeria. Religion for
instance, is a deep cultural factor within and among its adherents, it
reflects on the economy and on other social factors like health and
education, and our rulers tell us we do not need to know the number of
Muslims, or Christians, or Traditional African Worshippers in Nigeria?
Yet, even five and six-year old children seeking enrolment into public
schools are required to state their religion and ethnic group! Public
hospital cards have fields requiring religion and ethnic group which
must be filled by all patients. Educational institutions require both
data (religion and ethnicity) in all applications. So do all
applications into public jobs. When it comes to census, this vital
statistics become “volatile” issues. Why this contradiction?
The next issue is the
perception of census as a political exercise. Forget the preachments and
“patriotic” talk by our rulers who urged citizens to remain and be
counted wherever they reside in Nigeria. These patriotic preachers lied
on this one, and they know that they lied and always lie on this. For
instance, why should Emeka, an Abia State indigene residing in Kano
swell the numbers of Kano for Kano State to get more federal allocation,
when the same Abia indigene will be discriminated against in terms of
employment, and his children asked to pay higher school fees in Kano
public schools? Why should Emeka swell the numbers for Kano State to get
more federal electoral constituencies and local governments, where he
would only be allowed to “vote” for Kano indigenes, but never be voted
for in an election in Kano? Our rulers know this is what happens! And
they make it happen by emphasizing “indigeneship” above “residency”.
Save for the empty patriotic talk by charlatans in government, GON has
not done anything practical to convince that Nigerians are not
“settlers” outside their state origin.
The Nigerian
constitution in Chapter 3, dwelling on citizenship, aptly supports this
anachronism called “indigeneship”. Our ruling elite know what they gain
from this constitutional provision.
What about the talk by
our rulers that multiple counting is fruitless because hi-tech machines
will take only one fingerprint and reject the next similar fingerprints?
This is very possible and this technology is used in many countries to
ensure a near 100 % accurate database of all citizens. This database can
be used for so many purposes from providing social security stipends to
the unemployed, to voting during elections, to identifying criminals
among other useful purposes. But that could work only in other
countries. Since no two fingerprints are the same, it would mean that
where every unemployed citizen can, individually collect social security
stipend, how would our rulers lie and collect “poverty alleviation” on
“behalf” of “thousands of unemployed citizens in their constituency”?
Are our rulers ready to adopt a working citizens’ database that will
check election rigging? (Plans by Abel Guobadia of INEC to establish
laminated voters cards with photos and fingerprints were frustrated by
our rulers in 2002).
Is it for census that
the GON now knows the importance of fingerprint identification? Why are
they reluctant to adopt the technology for election purposes? Why has
the national ID card project gone into oblivion? The truth is that, our
thieving rulers are averse to accurate figures and a functional citizen
database. Most of our government institutions, the military, the police,
the civil service etc. cannot provide even a near accurate figure of its
men or employees. The reason is because the rulers thieve out of ghost
workers. Every six months, they do a staff audit and expose ghost
workers, they announce it gleefully in the media as if they are serious,
ask them to create a data-base and they develop cold feet: it will stop
them from chopping. The noise about fingerprint technology by GON is
big hypocrisy because they have rejected or frustrated the same
technology where it mattered most for Nigeria’s progress and
development.
Yet another issue that
chronicles the contradictions of our census exercise is the employment
of ad-hoc staff. It is common knowledge that the best workers achieve
the best results. Not so with NPC. The first shock came when I read a
newspaper report early March, telling of how lecturers, who applied to
be census ad-hoc workers from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ife,
were astonished to find political jobbers on the list of successful
applicants. None of the lecturers was employed! My shock stemmed from
the fact that OAU is one university reputed for the study of demography
in Nigeria. Across the country, so many undergraduates and National
Youth Service Corp (NYSC) members, best suited to do the work were
trained, dumped and replaced with a list of caricature workers supplied
by local government council officials, local PDP bigwigs and traditional
rulers! Then the biggest shocker was to come, that ad-hoc staff collect
training allowances and eloped in some states? Even when these workers
were billed to each collect an amount of money three times the training
allowance after the five-day counting exercise? How could such a large
number of ad-hoc staff suffer and train for over a week (two weeks in
some cases), collect five thousand naira, and then forgo the opportunity
of working for five days and earn three times that amount? Did NPC
officials play a fast one here? I am not a crime detector, but I find
this hard to believe. Such are the unbelievable wonders that could only
happen in our country, and nobody will be held responsible, no questions
will be asked.
Because of the
hypocrisy and lack of seriousness shown by Nigeria’s rulers, my apathy
and disinterest for this otherwise important national exercise grew with
the passing of each day. How was I omitted from the head count? On
Sunday, March 19, I traveled to Yola, Adamawa State from my Abuja
residence to visit a close family member who was ill. Tuesday, March 21,
enumerators came to just number the house in which I stayed in Yola,
promising to return the next day for actual enumeration of inhabitants.
They never returned until I left Yola for Abuja on Sunday, March 26.
When I arrived at my house in Abuja afternoon of the same day, I was
told by my neighbors that enumerators had just counted them and left
about an hour earlier. On Monday, March 27, the last day of counting
(owing to the two-day extension by government), enumerators counted the
security guards in the gatehouse to the compound that houses my office
in Maitama District of Abuja. I was inside the office, but I only
learned of their coming on the next day, after the counting had ended. I
would have, without resistance provided NPC enumerators with any
information they required, only if the came to meet me, but owing to my
apathy and disinterest, I refused to go find any enumerator to count me.
Yes, I am one of those Nigerians that were not counted. It may not make
any difference, but I don’t care.
Ikita, a
Sociologist and Development Worker, lives in Abuja
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